Rec Dept. offers fall activities

Wednesday

Sep 29, 2010 at 12:01 AMSep 30, 2010 at 2:36 PM

By GEORGE AUSTIN

By GEORGE AUSTIN

Editor

SOMERSET — Ted Dempsey puts his students in his tai chi class at the Somerset Council On Aging through a lot of repetition and jokes around with them a little as they are learning the moves on Monday morning.

"The more you do it, the closer you get," Mr. Dempsey said. "I'm not a tai chi master, but I can teach tai chi. People learn the form, but the more you do it, the more you feel what tai chi is about."

Mr. Dempsey has been teaching tai chi for more than 10 years. He was teaching over in Taunton before deciding he wanted to teach in his hometown, so he is offering classes at the COA on Monday mornings and with the Somerset Recreation Department on Wednesday nights at the North Elementary School. He also teaches tai chi in Florida when he goes there during the winter. Mr. Dempsey's classes have had students from 11 years old to 89 years old..

Mr. Dempsey said tai chi helps to improve balance. For senior citizens, she said that can help prevent them from falling and breaking hips. He said people hurt themselves when they start panicing as they are falling. But with tai chi, he said they learn to relax and how to move, which could help prevent such injuries.

"It also improves leg strength quite a bit," Mr. Dempsey said.

Mr. Dempsey said tai chi can also improve a person's concentration and help people who have been experiencing stress to relax. He said he has noticed more and more medical journals coming out that talk about the benefits of tai chi. A couple of weeks ago, he said the New England Medical Journal said that tai chi can help relieve effects of fibromyalgia. He said doctors are finding out that tai chi can help people who have brittle bones.

Mr. Dempsey studied tai chi at Brown University with Yan Li, a former jiu jitsu collegiate champion in China. He said she used a lot of repetition.

"The Chinese do it out in the parks every morning," Mr. Dempsey said. "You see hundreds of people."

There are different forms of tai chi. Mr. Dempsey teaches the Yang style which has 67 moves.

Barbara Hovorka is in the tai chi class at the Somerset Council On Aging. She said it helps her with agility and said Mr. Dempsey is an excellent teacher.

"It has a calming effect," Ms. Hovorka said of tai chi. "It strengthens you. It puts your head in the right place."